


Dark Feathers and Bright Hearts

by SamJoinedtheReconCorps



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Chroma Conclave Arc, Falling In Love, Fluff, M/M, Raven Queen - Freeform, Whitestone (Critical Role), or getting pushed tbh, post ep 58, this scene was just cute okay, this scene was too fucking much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-13 01:47:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18458945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SamJoinedtheReconCorps/pseuds/SamJoinedtheReconCorps
Summary: After a bit of a surprising assassination attempt, Vax asks Gilmore if he can tell him anything new about the Deathwalker's Ward. Gilmore decides that showing Vax might mean a more to him than simply telling him, and Vax decides to tell Gilmore just how much he means to him.





	Dark Feathers and Bright Hearts

**Author's Note:**

> WOOOOOOO SOOOOOO I'M BACK IN LESS THAN 24 HOURS SO DAMN SON I'M GETTING MY SHIT TOGETHER
> 
> I know I know I said I was working on a Grog/Reader piece but like this shit was just right there I had to write it
> 
> I absolutely love Vax and Keyleth but this scene was just so damn fucking cute I just really wanted Vax and Gilmore to kiss it would have been the perfect moment especially when Vax's wings wrapped around them so here to this this just immediately happened I didn't even finish the episode I rushed to write it as soon as it happened and so this is short and sweet and to the point
> 
> I hope you guys like it

Even though the Rakshasa’s return had caught everyone off guard, they had managed to get rid of it (at least for a while) and most of the assassins it had brought with it. Despite the fighting having lasted mere seconds, it had still been a rough battle and left everyone stressed and in need of a nice, long drink.

Gilmore especially was left feeling anxious after what had happened, after the assassin that he’d taken care of in his home and after Keyleth told him that the Rakshasa had gotten to Vax by wearing his face. Even though he knew he shouldn’t feel guilty, a part of him felt that it was his fault the Rakshasa had been able to lure Vax away, alone and unarmed. His chest ached at what ifs - of what if Vax had died to the Rakshasa while it still looked like him, of what if Vax had died thinking that Gilmore had been the one who killed him.

He took out his small flask and took a drink, wanting to take some of the edge off of his anxiety as he stomped out that train of thought.

“Shaun,” Gilmore hears, feeling his spirits lift just from hearing his name coming out of Vax’s mouth, his voice both a comfort and a reassurance that he’s alive.

“You know - sorry,” Vax smiles, catching Gilmore with the flask at his lips.

He brings the flask down, going to cap it as he flashes Vax a smile of his own. “Yes?”

“Wait, wait, wait, wait - hey, hand that over, big guy,” Vax says as he reaches out and motions for the flask.

Gilmore doesn’t even hesitate to hand it to him. “But of course, you certainly earned it.”

“Yeah, thank you,” Vax quietly answers before taking a swig of the flask. He doesn’t break eye contact with Gilmore as it goes down, and Gilmore can’t seem to look away as a stray drop of liquor slips down his chin.

“Um, you know everything about everything, uh,” Vax begins as he brings the flask down, drawing Gilmore back to the present.

“I - I, I - I wouldn’t say I know everything about everything,” Gilmore stammers out, annoyed that his anxiety and his slight lapse in attention when watching Vax had left him a little tongue-tied.

“It’s close,” Vax points out.

“Between the two of us,” Gilmore signals towards Allura, his smile back to it's million watt intensity, “pretty sure we know everything, but she more than I.”

“I can agree with that,” Vax nods, a soft smile still on his face. His gaze drops to the floor. “Um,” he pats his chest, at the dark armor he’s wearing, “We found this in a tomb, um, uh - I kind of understand it. Do - can you tell anything about it?”

“Other than the fact that it smells really bad,” Vex mock whispers from where she stands with the rest of the group, loud enough for both Gilmore and Vax to hear.

The tips of Vax’s ears go red. “Yeah, it does smell bad. I - Scanlan gave me some patchouli to rub on it but it only does half the job,” he rushed out, looking down sheepishly before meeting Gilmore’s eyes. “What can you tell me about it?” In a quieter voice, he said, “It belonged to a god.”

Gilmore nods, walking around Vax slowly, his eyes taking in the armor - and checking out Vax a little, the image of him from earlier when he’d been completely naked coming back to him for a second - as he cast  _ Identify _ . He can feel the arcane energy flow through him as the armor unravels in his mind, showing him everything that it can do, all the properties it possesses.

“This, this is, uh,” he nods to himself again. “This is a powerful vestige, my friend. This - this has existed for quite some time and you’ve, well there’s certainly a bit of dark divine energy around it.” He steps a little closer, eyes squinting as he inspects it further. “It looks like it has the capability to resist most elements when given the instruction and it safeguards the life of the bearer and, uh, it looks like there’s some sort of -” he cuts himself off, then looks at Vax as he straightened himself up. “Tell you what - follow me.”

“Yeah,” Vax says quietly, so quietly that Gilmore almost doesn’t hear him as he’s already taken a step away.

Gilmore turns around, raising his arms in a nonthreatening manner, “It’s really me this time. Follow me?”

The softness in Vax’s eyes almost knocks the wind out of Gilmore. “I know it is,” Vax whispers softly.

“Alright,” Gilmore says, walking out of the front doors of the castle with Vax in tow, making sure to step over the trail of blood Lady Kima had left when she dragged in the dead assassin. He stopped them both at the edge of the cliff near the walkway.

He looked down, the moonlight shining over the vast expanse of forest. He met Vax’s gaze. “Do you trust me?”

Vax gives him a long look but nods, his gaze dropping as he whispers, almost shyly, “I do.”

Gilmore tries to keep his heart from fluttering as he imagines those same words in another context, but he steels himself, makes a silent apology to Vax, and then shoves him off the cliff.

Vax plummets, the wind whistling in his ears as he’s suddenly in the air, the ground rushing up to meet him. He feels the ghost of panic before instinct takes over, and, as he turns his eyes to the sky, two black raven wings whip out of the back of the armor in a hurricane flurry of dark feathers.

Just as suddenly as he was falling, Vax is now swooping over the treetops, his awe and excitement almost muted against the roar of adrenaline in his veins. He flaps his wings, doubling back and flying up the cliff face, catching Gilmore as he crests it and lifting him up in the air.

Gilmore lets out a startled cry at the unexpectedness of it and holds onto Vax tightly, his arms wrapping around his neck as Vax’s are tight around his torso. “You fucking brilliant bastard!” Vax shouts gleefully. And he can’t help it - he leans in and gives Gilmore a quick peck on the lips. “Thank you! Thank you!”

It had been so fast Gilmore hadn’t even had a chance to react to Vax’s lips on his, but it leaves him with a wide smile, and he can feel himself beginning to blush.

He sees the way that Gilmore is smiling at him, equal parts giddy and terrified - giddy that not only was he able to make Vax so happy but that he also got a kiss out of it and terrified at being so high up in the air.

“This is embarrassing,” Vax laughs, as he slowly begins to float them down to the ground. “Sorry.”

“Thank you,” Gilmore says once they’re back on firm ground. He sways a little in Vax’s arms, but he steadies himself, “It’s alright - I would have been fine.”

Vax still hasn’t let him go. “You are so dear to me,” he says softly, the moonlight giving him a silver glow, his windswept hair an adorable mess. Vax pulls Gilmore back to him, one arm around his waist and his other hand moving to cup his face as he kisses him. This was nothing like the peck that had happened up in the air, an impulse, over just as quickly as it started. This was like when they touched down, a reaffirmation of where they were standing, a groundedness to it, a heady familiarity that was overwhelming.

Gilmore stood wide-eyed and frozen for a split second before he melted into the kiss, pushing against Vax with the enthusiasm of a drowning man getting his first breath of fresh air after an eternity underwater. His hands are holding onto the front of Vax’s armor, and as his eyes slipped shut he could see the moonlight that had been shining on them disappear as Vax’s wings wrapped around them, enveloping them in a soft blanket of black feathers.

They stayed like that for a few moments, pulling away for air only to chase back in and find each other’s lips once more. They were gentle but firm with each other, relishing in the feeling of one another, of their taste, the way their chests rose with breathlessness.

Vax pulled away, resting his forehead against Gilmore’s. “I thought the Rakshasa had gotten to you before it came for me,” he whispered. “I couldn’t lose you again.”

“You’ve never lost me,” Gilmore said as he put his hands on Vax’s cheeks. “I feared the worst when Keyleth told me it had come to you disguised as me.”

Vax leaned against the touch, opening his eyes. “I couldn’t lose you,” Vax repeated, surging forward to kiss Gilmore, the touch soft, gentle.

“It’ll take more than a dragon and a Rakshasa to get rid of me, Vax’ildan,” Gilmore grinned after Vax pulled away again.

“I’ll hold you to that,” Vax smiled. He took a step back, his arms still loosely around Gilmore. The wings slowly unraveled, scattering into the wind in a flurry of black feathers before disappearing. “Do you still want that drink?”

“I do,” Gilmore whispered to Vax, closing the distance between them again, and hoping that he could continue to close that distance again and again and again under the moonlight, in Vax’s arms, with the expanse of the future laid out before them.

**Author's Note:**

> Vax is just such a shippable character it hurts my heart like damn son he works so well with everyone T.T this boy is quickly consuming my docs but i'm not complaining like I haven't felt this inspired to write this much in a while, i'm riding this wave as far as it'll take me with this band of merry adventurers
> 
> I really hope you guys like this! and like I said, i will eventually get around to that Grog fic, its in the works as I speak, but in the meantime i might be posting up more stuff like this if more cute shit comes along! 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!
> 
> last note, this is the scene that inspired this:  
> A Cycle of Vengeance | Critical Role RPG Show Episode 58 - 2:12:09


End file.
